LePage accused lawmakers of passing a bill to reduce litter without considering its administrative costs or possible effects on companies that do business in Maine. Facing a potential legislative override of his veto, the governor also said his administration would – in the event of the bill’s passage – immediately begin the process of “delisting” nips bottles from the state’s authorized liquor products, removing a product that accounts for a growing share of spirits sales and a growing litter problem.
LePage made the veto threat hours after the Maine Senate voted 32-3 to pass a bill that would order retailers to collect a nickel bottle deposit on each 50-milliliter liquor bottle beginning in 2019. The bill, which passed the House last week on a 111-34 vote, is touted by supporters as a way to reduce roadside litter and encourage recycling of the mini liquor bottles
The bill faces more votes in both the House and Senate. Both chambers endorsed the bill by veto-proof margins during initial voting.
Popular miniature bottles of liquor, ‘nips,’ are piling up on Maine roadsides, but a push to impose a 5-cent deposit on them is running into opposition from Gov. LePage. Staff photo by Michele McDonald
The governor also called out the bill’s sponsor, Republican Sen. Tom Saviello of Wilton, who has clashed with the governor in the past and who co-chairs the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
“Senator Saviello said he would call my bluff that I would delist 50-milliliter ‘nip’ bottles if this bill passes. A Maine legislator should know better than that,” LePage said in a statement. “If this bill passes, I will veto the bill and I will instruct the Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations to begin working immediately with the Liquor and Lottery Commission to delist all nips from sale in Maine. I do so with regret, but the severe impact of this bill leaves me no choice.”
More:
http://www.pressherald.com/2017/05/16/lepage-threatens-veto-and-to-remove-nips-liquor-bottles-from-maine-stores/Confession time - only posted this to see the puns made on the headline.
